Trudeau’s victory is a chance to renew the role of government

By now, you’ve heard the news. Canada has a Liberal majority government for the first time in ten years, Justin Trudeau is prime minister-designate and the Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 11-8.

Only one of those things was (briefly) a close call last night.

What the Trudeau Liberals have accomplished is impressive, even looking beyond the seat count. The Liberals have their first (and maybe second) seat in Canada’s oil capital since 1968. They made a clean sweep of every single seat in the Atlantic provinces. They won the majority of seats in Montreal, Ottawa-Gatineau, Toronto and Vancouver. They had a surprisingly strong showing in the usually-Liberal shy province of Manitoba. They elected five aboriginal MPs and many women. The new Liberal coalition is a strong one and it goes from coast to coast to coast.

With such a sweeping victory, it’s easy to assume that there was one single reason behind it. The only general motivation behind the Liberal wave was Canadians’ desire to see the back of Stephen Harper. While that may be thin gruel for a political program, Trudeau didn’t succeed because he lacked substance — he won because he added substance to the campaign. The decision to step away of the pack and promise deficits in the name of growth gave the Liberals the mantle of change. While it may sound trite to talk about the ‘politics of positivity’, promising something so out of tune with the political logic of the last nine years was a calculated gamble. It paid off. And that’s a reason to respect Trudeau and his team.

The shock of last night’s results will quickly subside. It will be replaced with excitement, since there is so much that is novel in this new government. A generational shift in Canadian politics. A leader whose personality is seen not as a political handicap but as a tool. A leader who chose some risky policies and won. Canada is on a whole different path after #elxn42.

This moment of genuine interest in politics (voter turnout for advanced voting was the highest in two decades) must not be wasted. The Liberals should – true to the spirit of their platform – engage in a national consultation effort on multiple fronts. On health care, the environment, electoral and Parliamentary (read Senate) reform, the public should be consulted, primarily through their provincial and municipal governments.

Those on the red team shouldn’t believe the road ahead will be easy. For those on the progressive left, there will be some hard truths to confront. You won’t make a splash in international talks over global climate change by promising the world. The effects of national infrastructure spending on growth won’t be obvious or immediately clear. Many of the policies introduced during the Harper years – even in files that voters on the left think they own, like aboriginal policy and immigration – will have to be acknowledged as sound. The only certainty ahead — for those in government as much as opposition — is debate.

And debate works much better when its done openly. That isn’t about pandering to whining sops who feel their voice is never heard. Ideas actually get better when they aren’t shaped by a knee-jerk reflex to diminish an opponent or indulge in simplistic, pandering messaging. Trudeau may have a hard time keeping himself from succumbing to the policies of control now embedded in the machinery of government. But his campaign promises sure sound like he’s going to try.

If Ottawa can become a place where a good argument gets a fair hearing, that’ll be a welcome change from a capital where histrionics and shrill attacks have been the norm. And as the government (hopefully) becomes a more open institution, we hope it can regain, in at least some small respect, its image as a strong, central and important component of each citizen’s life.